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Our Members Are Talking, and We’re Listening!

You may have noticed a few more requests for member feedback in recent months. The National Wellness Institute (NWI) staff and board of directors truly care about the needs of individuals and organizations who are promoting wellness. And, what’s the best way to learn about those needs? Ask people like you who are dedicated to fostering wellness in your communities, workplaces, and homes! We invite you to take a moment to read about what we’ve learned from these surveys and how we’ll be using this information to continue to serve the professional development needs of wellness promoters throughout the word. For more about our online education, additional resources, and professional competency model that are on the horizon, see below.

Professional Development Update

NWI recently invited its members and other wellness-promoting professionals to participate in an Educational Needs Assessment to learn more about their professional needs in wellness. We thank everyone who provided their thoughts, which will guide NWI as we expand our continuing education offerings and ensure the professional development opportunities we offer are accessible and applicable.

The survey results confirmed that having a flexible and affordable online format for continuing education activities was important to wellness professionals. Soon, NWI will be launching a new online learning platform featuring a variety of e-learning opportunities from on-demand webinars to short courses to full-scale professional certificate programs like our Wellness in Clinical Practice program. (Spoiler alert: NWI’s sought-after Worksite Wellness certificate program will have an online option soon, as well!)

Also based on the feedback, in the coming months, NWI will be rolling out new and enhanced online resources focusing on themes like the foundations of multi-dimensional wellness; applying wellness in specific settings; self-care for wellness professionals; advanced coaching techniques; stress and resiliency; and more. To provide further professional development, we have implemented our A Deeper Well podcast series, which highlights the expertise and practical experience of wellness leaders from across the country. Plus, as NWI releases updates to our online wellness assessment tool, TestWell®, keep an eye out for new training programs that help you use a multi-dimensional approach to wellness assessment and evaluation.

We know that continuing education is an important part of membership with NWI, and we also recognize we can do even more to support our members’ professional growth and connection to the wellness community. In October, we will be requesting feedback on current and potential benefits and resources to better serve our members.

Thank you for helping to make the NWI community stronger and for helping to strengthen the wellness movement worldwide.

Professional Wellness Competencies Update:

In April 2016, NWI began the process of identifying foundational competencies for wellness-promoting professionals by asking for your response to a survey. Over the summer, we continued our work by conducting interviews with experts in the profession who hire or train wellness-promoting professionals to learn more about their observations of what characteristics make someone competent in promoting wellness. We learned a lot about the recommended knowledge, skills, and attitudes for wellness promotion. We are continuing the research process by inviting wellness professionals to participate in a follow-up survey to gather additional evidence that supports the development of an NWI Foundational Wellness Competencies model. This model will assist individuals in planning their professional development path and help employers ensure they are hiring the most qualified individuals to make an impact for their organization. A summary of results will be available to NWI members.

Invitations to participate in the competency research survey and the member benefit survey will be sent via email this fall. Thank you for continuing to share your valued input as we continue to strive to set high standards in the wellness industry and provide unparalleled professional development in wellness.